Battle Of The Orchestra
by Black Gargie
Summary: There's a feud going on between the West cartoon characters and the East anime characters! What will the feud be? The title explains it all! XD
1. Meeting for the Duel

A/N: I have come across 2 concert bands: one of Chinese culture and one of Western culture in my school and this idea suddenly pops out. So enjoy!

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to all characters that will appear in this fic.

                                                BATTLE OF THE ORCHESTRA

            The world of the cartoons and anime was in total disarray. Cartoons of the West were having disagreements with the animes on their ratings for their shows.

            "Come on, guys, admit it! Our ratings are far better than your silly old-fashioned 2-D features!" Sha Gojyo, from Genzomaden Saiyuki, yelled and banged the table of the conference room.

            "Excuse me, Mr. Know-It-All!" Max, Goofy's son, banged back at him, louder than before. "You guys have some 2-D features too, like Slam Dunk, for instance, and I don't see your ratings going up!"

            "You watch your mouth, you punk, or I'll…!" Sakuragi growled as he was ready to pounce on him from his side of the table but was pulled back by Kokure, Miyagi and Mitsui. Sendoh grinned in the background and Sakuragi's team was excited to see a fight going on.

            "Besides, we have also embraced the 3-D features, like Treasure Planet, Toy Story and the recent one Finding Nemo. And our ratings got up quite well!" Mickey tried to reason with them.

            "Hah! That didn't last very long, did it?" Tasuki, from Fushigi Yuugi, waved his fiery fan at them. "You should check out our Final Fantasy: Spirits Within! Now that's what I call a good rating!"

            "Yeah, but if it weren't for the sound dubbing from our side," the Beast (Beauty & the Beast) growled, baring his fangs, "you wouldn't have a great international rating now, would you?"

            "We did most of the anime work! You guys just stepped in and put in your voices! You didn't do much in contributing to the artwork of the features!" Doraemon and Nobita argued in unison.    

            "Oh yeah? Well, you guys butted in the artwork that was purely our idea to create it!" Clover, from Totally Spies, argued back in her outspoken way. "Look at us now! I am so anime-d by you guys! We had a feature of our own and yet all our attitude and style are practically polluted by your Japanese anime features."

            "Mind you, you guys came here to Japan to learn _our_ way of creating funny, fast-moving and great features, not us!" one of the crew from Vandread yelled at the background. "We didn't ask you to come over and learn our art so that you can apply it to your features! You're lucky we didn't sue you guys for it!"

            "Furthermore," Hiroshi, from Jigoku Sensei Nube, challenged, "if it weren't for our knowledge, you Spies would've been bland and uninteresting 2-D cartoons!"

            The fight began to get pretty heated up, from Kim Possible's arguments to Ayashi No Ceres' rebuttal to Donald Duck's yapping protests to Rave's loud yelling to Scooby Doo's howls to Akazukin Cha Cha's squeals. It was like a great war between the East and the West as they both shouted their disagreements. If this scene was made into a TV show, you could see fire in the background as the two parties compete to out-talk each other.

            "SILENCE!!!!!"

            Everyone stopped abruptly, including Genjo Sanzo who was about to pull out his gun to silence everyone. They all turned to the people across the conference table. There, sitting at the end of the table, were the people who were in charge of holding this meeting. They were new executives who monitor the progress and the ongoing situations of the cartoon world. They were no other than our local Malaysian comic and cartoon characters, namely Mat Gempak from Gempak magazines; Misbun Sidek from the Anak-Anak Sidek comic book and Pak Cik Din from Ujang magazines.

           "Thank you," Mat Gempak said as soon as the conference room was silent enough and that all have taken their seats. "Now that I have your attention, let us all continue our meeting like we're supposed to and not get at each other's throat."

            "It has come to our attention that you have some doubts of whose shows' ratings are better, the East or the West," Pak Cik Din said as he acknowledged both sides. "Really, there is no doubt that both of you have done a great job in entertaining the humans in the reality world, but really, you don't have to fight amongst yourselves. All of you have done a perfectly good job."

            "Thanks, Mr. Din," Goofy, our resident simpleton chuckled absent-mindedly. "We've been trying very hard to impress those kids…"

            "Come on, Dad, you can't be satisfied with that," Max groaned. "We are doing so much better than those cheapskate animes and we sure that were far better than all of them combined. They're just jealous of our recent success in the new movie 'Finding Nemo' and are trying to say that they're better just to psychologically trick the humans out there."

            "We did not!" Detective Conan's team shouted. "It's true that your show sucks and it's only a piece of cake compared to our standard features! You guys can't even act in a comic right!"

            The fight would be even more heated up if Mat Gempak hadn't cleared his throat deliberately loud enough to pacify them.

            "People, people. There's no need for a fight. You have done your share of the work fine for the community of humans. Why would you want to fight?"

            "BECAUSE WE KNOW WE'RE BETTER THAN THEM!!" the East and the West shouted in unison, forcing the meeting chairpersons to cover their ears.

            "So what is it do you want that can make you change your mind about each other?" Pak Cik Din asked exasperatedly.

            "We want a duel!" Archie yelled. "A duel that can determine us fair and square!"

            "Yeah! We want the greatest duel that can show these numbskulls who's the big guy around here!" Luffy and Zoro said in unison.

            "We want a fair duel!!!" For once, the East and the West agreed on something. 

            "Alright then," Misbun, who was silent throughout the whole meeting, said with an air so mysterious, everyone including Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din turned to look at him.

            "What do you have in mind?" Katsuya (Jigoku Sensei Nube) asked.

            "I have a perfect duel that can both challenge your skills and also prove your worthiness in this field and also dare you to see if you have the guts for it. I'm sure it's something you guys have yet to master or encounter. It depends on you now, and that means no help from humans whatsoever. You have to do this yourselves."

            "Come on, man! Stop speaking in riddles! What's the big duel?" Chicken (Cow & Chicken) asked.

            "You guys are going to compete in orchestra."

A/N: HAHAHAHA~~!!! XD That's one heckuva duel! What'll it be next?! Review plz!


	2. The West

A/N: So, did you have a good laugh? Now let's get on with the gag! 

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to all characters that will appear in this fic.

                                                BATTLE OF THE ORCHESTRA

            Cartoons of the West were all gathered in the orchestra room, picking the instrument of their choice. They couldn't believe that they actually agreed upon Misbun Sidek's decision to an orchestra duel with the East animes. They were too dumbstruck at that time when Misbun came with the decision that the meeting adjourned without as much as a small protest. Now they were in the orchestra room trying to practice a song that would be good enough o defeat the East and claim a name in their rightful place as the highest rated cartoons of the animated world.

            "Alright, alright, places everyone," Mickey stood at the conductor stand and tapped the board with his conducting stick. "Everyone, find an instrument that you can play and then we'll all come up with a nice piece of song to beat the animes, although I don't think this duel is good."

            "This duel is so not the drama," Kim Possible groaned as she took a flute. "Cheerleading is much easier than this!"

            "You said it, KP," Ron agreed while taking a trombone, followed by Rufus the mole rat from his pocket.

            "I cannot believe that some Asian cartoons can just boss us around and ask us to compete in this primitive nature!" Dexter grumbled as he picked the xylophone. "Why couldn't he say anything about competing in science?"

            "That's a good duel," Velma (Scooby Doo) agreed while she took a violin.

            "I hope these weird instruments don't do anything to my hair," Johnny Bravo said as he took the electric guitar in his hands. Dexter gave Johnny a sideways glance. If anyone remembers one of the Cartoon Network's commercials, Dexter has a heart for Velma, yet Velma was undeniably in love with Johnny.

            "Ah-hyuck! I love playing things like these! I don't mind Mr. Sidek giving us this kind of competition!" Goofy replied as he took out his prized banjo. A family heritage, no doubt.

            "Dad, you're always up and about for anything," Max replied exasperatedly while he and his best pal PJ took an electric guitar each.

            "I don't know what's worse," Max (Mighty Max) said as he took another electric guitar while passing the drumsticks to Norman, "my missions to defeat SkullMaster or this."

            "I'd say that it's most likely the missions that are kinder," Virgil commented.

            "Alright, everyone," Mickey's voice came out in the middle of the hectic orchestra crowd. "Have you guys got the instrument you can play?"

            "YES!!!" Everyone hollered, sending Mickey falling over his feet by the impact of their voices.

            "Alright, let's try these few pieces, and then we'll decide which to play for the orchestra."

            The cartoons started playing. First it was a real wreck that they had to take several breaks just to let Mickey's stressed-out heart rest. But after a few practices (and less wreckage of tunes), they got the hang of it.

            "OK, everyone. It is decided. We'll play our cartoons' theme songs and also those major theme songs for our animated movies. I personally think Beauty & the Beast and also Hunchback of Notre Dame's theme song is cool."

            "No kidding!" Daffy Duck said in the midst of his spraying saliva. "The first few tunes from…whaddaya say? Symphony something! Ugh! That's terrible!"  

          "OK then. We'll take a break then, have a dinner or a snack or somewhat, or does anyone have a show to run later? Alright, after everything said and done, you will all gather here to play."

            Everyone groaned when Mickey mentioned the practice, but they didn't protest. Could be because of their bet and grudge towards the East animes. One by one, they left the orchestra room. Some stayed behind to play their instruments or experiment some other instruments to see if they were suitable to their capability.

            "Hey, Velma, you got any shows today?" Dexter asked, feeling hopeful.

            "No, nothing much. Scooby and Shaggy had to go on some tour with Fred and Daphne, and I wasn't interested, so our show had to be postponed," Velma replied.

            "Then would it be OK if…"

            "Hey Velma, Carl was supposed to hang out with me at Pop's but he ditched me for some 'pretty' cousin of hers," it was Johnny Bravo, wincing as he said the word 'pretty'. "Come with me?"

            "Sure, Johnny," Velma said dreamily as she followed behind him without waiting for Dexter's protests. Dexter sighed and walked off to find his co-actor Mandark to pass the time. He found it hard to confess how he felt for Velma, his intellectual equal. He didn't what to say and he didn't how anyway.

            So far, apart from this poor soul who was unable to confess, there are other people who were already an item out for a dinner or supper or getting ready for a show. For instance Arnold and Helga holding hands as they head for the cafeteria, Kim Possible and Ron practicing their lines for their show together (and sucking up on each other in the process), Belle and the Beast out in the balcony of the orchestra room watching the sunset, Aladdin and Jasmine sharing a milkshake at a coffee shop just outside of the building, Kylie and Eduardo having their little 'private time' before their show starts and Archie sharing his extra large sundae at the cafeteria with Betty and Veronica.

            Later that evening, as planned, the cartoons of all stations, namely Disney, Dreamworks, Pixar, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros. came to the orchestra room to play their pieces.

                                                                        *

            "Are you sure that they can make peace through this duel?"

            The new Asian executives Mat Gempak, Misbun and Pak Cik Din passed by the orchestra room to check the cartoons out and see their progress. They were playing pretty well for starters, and they never asked for any special effects or special talent to be given to them from the humans. It was all on their own. They've never seen them more determined than ever.

            "Is the ratings all that matters to them? I think they're doing pretty fine with the ratings. At least none of their shows are getting ripped off. The kids still like them…" Pak Cik Din's words were cut short by the raising of Misbun's hand.

            "The ratings are their life and their winning bread. Without it, they will cease to exist, just like when my other comic 'sibling'—the 'Smashing Omni' did," Misbun replied, a slight bitterness in his words. "It co-existed with me and my brothers in our comic series, and they shared their life with us. But when it started to go solo, no human was interested, and their ratings immediately fell. My brothers and I watched as they disappeared out of sight right in front of our eyes. We couldn't do anything, because it was the ratings that kept us alive."

            "I'm…so sorry," Mat Gempak said apologetically. "I've never experienced such things before; because all my members are still around…I didn't know…"

            "To them, the ratings mean everything," Misbun replied. "Without it, it'll be the death of them."

            "Then…how is this duel going to stop them from fighting for ratings anymore? I mean, if either side wins, one of them has to cease to exist…" Pak Cik Din was beginning to worry.   

            "Yes, that's right!" Mat Gempak began to worry too. "We've already made our announcement to the reality public about this duel! If the humans start choosing sides, either side would die, and it'll be our fault and…"

            "Let's go take a look at the animes, shall we?" Misbun only gave his co-workers a mysterious smile before turning towards the other wing of the building. 

            Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din had no choice but to follow suite. They simply can't keep up with Misbun's mysterious behaviour forever.

A/N: Now what will this Misbun think of next? Mozart, anyone? Reviews plz! ^_^ 


	3. The East

A/N: Now that we've seen great stuff on the West side, why don't we try out the East side?

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to all characters that will appear in this fic.

                                                BATTLE OF THE ORCHESTRA

            The orchestra of the East is totally not the same as the West. All the instruments are really Chinese style and are totally the different design than the West's. There wasn't an electric guitar, to start with, and the keyboard was like a piano with only strings but no keys (by the way, in Chinese, it's called a qin) and the only Western instrument available there was a cello. Aside from that, it's all Chinese, Chinese and more Chinese instruments. 

            The conductor for the East anime team was no other than Cho Hakkai, the little ol' good-natured cutie. Adjusting his glasses, he said with a smile (as always) and said, "Hait, hait (OK, OK). Places, everyone, and pick an instrument. Dozo, dozo (please, please)!"

           Everyone did as they were told, chattering loudly. Goku and Gojyo fought for the Chinese drum, resulting into a loud, painful thwack from Genjo Sanzo's famous fan. Sakuragi and Rukawa fought for the Chinese trumpet, resulting to hard bashes on the head by our famous 'gorilla' Akagi. Tamahome and Tasuki fought for the chimes and had to be pacified by both the calm and collected Chichiri and the tough guy Nuriko. In fact everyone was fighting for an instrument and was pacified by another person that the whole orchestra room was pretty much a warzone for a full 10 minutes before they finally settled down on an instrument they could agree on. Hakkai and his faithful shoulder companion Hakryu the dragon couldn't help but let out a sweat drop. 

            "Alright, everybody. Got your instruments? Now let us begin."

            Unlike the West, the East animes knew immediately what they wanted to play: their own theme song. But then another problem arose—neither anime wanted their theme song to be played last. The argument started all over again, from Vandread to Fushigi Yuugi to Doraemon to You're Under Arrest to Akazukin Cha Cha to Ranma ½ to Gundam, etc, etc…Even Genjo Sanzo's famous Spirit Ascending Gun couldn't shut them up; it made things even worse.

            Suddenly the whole orchestra team was set alight for a moment there. There was a blinding flash, a scorching heat for a split second and then a thick layer of silence. Everyone was burned as black as soot but the instruments were untouched. The silence lasted for a full 2 minutes before the team turned slowly towards the ever smiling Hakkai with a very bright aura glowing on his left hand and Hakryu letting out a dragon laugh.

            "Now that I have your attention…" Hakkai said as he dug out a piece of blank paper and a pencil. "It seems that if you carry on like this, we'll never make it for the orchestra duel, so I've come up with a fair and square plan. Now I will write numbers in sequence and put them in this box here, and one person from each of their show will come up and draw. Simple enough? Fair enough?"

            Everyone nodded, too dumbstruck to talk after being burnt into a crisp toast. Hakkai counted all the anime shows mentally and wrote the numbers in the paper. He then dropped the numbers one by one into the spectacle box he put his glasses in, gave it a shake and opened it again for the members to take it. One by one a representative from each show came to take a number. Some cheered when they got a favourable number and some groaned. It was expected, but they accepted it just the same. None of them wanted to argue; they didn't want to become a human charcoal.

            Soon, everyone was back in their places with their instruments in their hands. Hakkai tapped the board with his conducting stick and counted "1, 2, 3" before waving it, conducting his orchestra team into playing their songs right. The songs started out quite bland and out of practice but slowly they kinda got the hang of it.

            Finally, after they played their songs for a few times, Hakkai saw the watch on his hand showing that it was time for quits. He tapped the board, signaling everyone to stop. They put down their instruments, looking quite buffed out by the practices. 

            "Hait, everybody. We'll call it quits for now," Hakkai said with his usual smile on his face. "Do whatever you want, but come back later tonight. We need to practice some more. There are some songs that you need to tighten a little."

            "What?? Come back again?! I don't wanna!!" Goku protested.

            "Yeah! Why do we have to come back and practice?" someone from Gundam yelled in the background.

            "Well, I don't know…" Hakkai smiled even wider as his hand started to glow again. Immediately, everyone punched the Gundam wise guy and agreed to come back tonight. Hakkai smiled and said, "That's good. We have to work hard to defeat those West cartoons, you know. Practice makes perfect. Besides, we agreed to do this, didn't we?"

            Everyone mumbled in reply as they left the orchestra room one by one. Like the West, some of them stayed back to play the instruments and test it out to either pass their time ('coz they don't have a show) or just for fun. Goku immediately ran towards Sanzo and grabbed his arm, begging him to take him to the cafeteria. 

            "Harahate-ne (hungry), Sanzo~!" Goku whined lovingly. He had always loved this demented monk to the core and was always with him even when there wasn't a show going on. Gojyo saw them and huffed, walking away to a gorgeous chick from the You're Under Arrest show. He was used to them.

            "Urusai (Shut up)," Sanzo said as he gave a whack on the little monkey's head with his famous holy fan. Goku was unperturbed.

            "Harahate-ne~!! I wanna eat sushi, tempura, ramen, sashimi…"

            "Go away before I blow your brains out," Sanzo's gun was on his forehead now, but Goku was used to his threats. He looked at his beloved monk with those watery puppy eyes and smiled forlornly. 

            "Aishiteru-ne (I love you)~"

            The safety pin on the gun was released.

            "Aishiteru, Sanzo~! Harahate~!!"

            Sanzo stared at the suicidal Goku for a few moments before sighing and wrapped his arm around Goku's waist as he and the little monkey walked out of the building towards a genuine Japanese restaurant. That was one of his weaknesses: he eventually wouldn't be able to resist Goku's temptation.

            Besides this loving (occasionally getting at each other's throats) couple, there had been other couples trying to spend their free time sucking up on each other, like Ranma and Akane practicing their instrument together, Ayashi and Toru walking towards the cafeteria with their baby in a pram, Nobita and Shizuka practicing their lines for the show, Tamahome and Miaka going out on a double date with Chichiri and Tasuki (yes, these two are couples as well) and Reka and Shal (Strange Dawn casts) trying to help Berey to ask Yuko out so that they, too, could go out on a double date. 

            But, as promised, that night the anime casts came back one by one to practice their music until late in the night.

                                                                        *

            "Are you really, really sure this duel is going to work?" Pak Cik Din asked skeptically as they peered into the orchestra room to check out how the East was doing.

            "Yeah, Misbun," Mat Gempak agreed worriedly. "What if they don't kiss and make up? What if something goes wrong, like the humans taking sides and one of the team has to be eliminated…?"

            "They will make peace," Misbun replied, smiling mysteriously. "Trust me on this one."

A/N: Oh wow, oh wow! We are going to hear the greatest orchestra playing in the world! Kitaro, anyone? Reviews plz! 


	4. Last Minute Preparations

A/N: So, how did you like my fic? I hope it's befitting to your preference. Now let's see some of the woes of our fellow cartoons and anime as they made their final preparation.

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to all characters that will appear in this fic.

                                    BATTLE OF THE ORCHESTRA

            The West gathered in their orchestra room very early in the morning for one last practice. They made sure that none of them made a single mistake in their theme songs and were surprised themselves when some of the theme songs they practiced came out pretty perfect without any flaw at all. After the practice, Mickey the conductor was very pleased indeed.

            "Well, my friends, I guess we have actually done a great job in this practice. Remember, we have to do our best on stage if we ever want to win the ratings that we deserve from the humans in the reality world. I heard many are coming to watch us tonight and will be the judge."

            "I thought you didn't care about the ratings," Donald Duck said slyly in his duckish squawk.

            "Heh heh," Mickey scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, so far we have been practicing very, very hard, and I shudder to think that our efforts would be wasted and have the humans favour the animes. So…"

            "We get the drift, Mickey," Shaggy said as he sat, as usual, with Scooby sharing a long sandwich. "Like, we wouldn't want to let those chinks get in the way of being the most liked cartoons by our fellow humans."

            "Uh-uh, no way!" Scooby agreed with his mouth full of food.

            "What if they don't like us?" Courage the Cowardly Dog, the worried wart, whimpered. "What if those animes really are good and the kids don't like us? What'll we do? What'll we do?"

            "Stupid dog! You're worrying over nothing! Of course we'll win!" Eustace scowled and would've hit his guitar on Courage's head if it weren't for his wife Murielle who stopped him.

            "He is right," Cow said worriedly as she squeezed Chicken's shoulder. "What if they don't like us? What if we don't play good, Chicken? Would it be the end of us, Big Brother?"

            "That's why we have to give our best performance to them and show them what we're made of. There is no way we're gonna give up our ratings to a 3rd class animation like them!" Clover replied vainly.

            "OK then, my friends. Let's do another practice and let's break a leg on stage later!" Mickey said as he tapped the board with his conducting stick enthusiastically.

            Soon the orchestra room was filled with their music.

                                                                        *

            Everyone of the East sat at their places, staring at their instruments blandly without moving an inch. They seemed pretty tense and testy. None of them were willing to pick up their instruments and practice for the last time. Hakkai, the ever high-hoped and cheerful git, noticed immediately and tapped the board with his conducting stick.

            "Come on, people, get a move on! Dozo, dozo!"

            No one attempted to move. Hakkai brought a chair to sit down and folded his arms.

            "Alright, guys. What seems to be the problem?"

            "I think we're going out on a suicidal mission," Luffy, the ever energetic rubber boy, looked worried and uneasy for the first time.

            "Why do you say that?"

            "I've heard rumours about the judging. If we lose, we will cease to exist," Sailor Moon said with a glum on her face as she let herself be in the arms of her darling Mamoru and Luna on her lap.

            "Annou…if we actually lose, the ratings and credit will all go to the West, and we will soon be forgotten," Kyoko (Jigoku Sensei Nube) said, fearing for the worst. "And if we are forgotten, our lives will be gone. We will cease to exist. We will disappear into thin air and never be able to live again."

            "I don't want to disappear! I haven't have time to be with Haroko!!!" Sakuragi ranted in the background, but was surprised that Akagi didn't aim a punch on his head. Rukawa looked at him coldly, but was unable to hide his worry about disappearing from the face of the earth.

           "Matte, matte! Choto matte, everyone," Hakkai tried to calm his fellow colleagues down and brighten up their spirits. "Just because of one rumour, you turn into soggy ramen? Come on, guys. This is not like you. These few days you were playing pretty good, and you guys are really making progress. You're not giving up, are you?"

            "We wish we could share your optimism and all," Kindaichi said unenthusiastically, "but you don't get much of a courage when you hear things about dying and ceasing to exist, never to return to bring joy and laughter to the humans."

            "Well, if you guys give up now and not wanting to show up for the orchestra performance, we would cease to exist just the same, because we are going to considered as 'chickens' by the humans," Hakkai replied calmly.

            "Yes, but…" Ranma tried to reply, but couldn't. He was pretty upset about the whole thing.    

            "Besides, if you don't try, how would you know that we will not be liked by the humans? How would we know that our songs are better than the West or vice versa? Our songs are much popular than the West—just look at those humans downloading our songs from the internet rather than the West's. What do we have to lose? If we don't try, we might as well be dead, right here, right now."

            "Well, you got a point there," someone from Vandread replied sheepishly.

            "We have to be out there to know if we are worthy of all the ratings from our fellow humans," Hakkai replied as he got off his seat and reached for the conducting stick. "Remember, we may not know what will the future brings, but we can change it for the better and for our advantage."

            "Well, what are you bakas waiting for?" Sanzo threw away his cigarette and picked up his Chinese guitar. "Let's get started before Hakkai here talks until the end of time."

            Everyone finally picked up their instruments and prepared to start their practice. They seemed pretty upbeat now that Hakkai had given them reassurance and a little bit of confidence.

            "It is the fight for our lives and for our existence," Hakkai tapped his stick and raised it above his head. "Ganbatte, everyone!"

            Soon, their orchestra room, too, filled with music.

                                                                        *

            As time passed by, the clock struck, signaling dinner time. Misbun stared out of his office window and he could see, at the Great Music Hall where the competition will be held, stood quite a number of humans waiting outside the gates long before it was time to open and let them in. Misbun smiled and drew the curtains.

            "It is time."

A/N: Dear me. Everyone's either excited or worried or even agitated and sullen over this whole feuding thing as Misbun was being mysterious about it. What's going through his mind right now? Not that I'm telling! Reviews plz!


	5. The Duel of a Lifetime

A/N: Hullo, hullo. So did you guys like my fic so far? Well, just wanna let you guys and gals know that this is the finale of me orchestra fic! So enjoy while you can! ^_^

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to all characters that will appear in this fic.

                                    BATTLE OF THE ORCHESTRA

            All the cartoons and animes were seated in the cafeteria to have their dinner. All the cartoons and animes were pretty much the same old hostile attitude towards each other. They were either exchanging venomous looks at each other or glare at each other in the face before someone else that was more calm and collected or rational comes and drags them away. They ate their meals in silence so that no one would suddenly come up some wise-guy catch to start a fight.

           This wasn't the time to fight. Not now. Their fight is on stage, where the public will see their abilities and be the judge.

            Our Asian agents Misbun Sidek, Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din were pretty amazed when they came into the cafeteria. They expected a hot fight as soon as the West and the East meet but judging by the glares and silent treatment, they were impressed.

            "Looks like we don't need to be their peace maker for tonight, do we, guys?" Mat Gempak said as he took his seat after getting his food.

            "Nope, not necessary," Pak Cik Din replied. Misbun only smiled and shook his head. He was still being mysterious and all even though every staff was beginning to doubt that the West and the East would ever make peace after this orchestra.

            "Are you really, _really_ sure that this duel is going to settle their score between themselves?" Mat Gempak asked, still worried about the whole thing.

            "We'll just wait and see," Misbun smiled and popped a spoonful of mash potatoes into his mouth. 

                                                                        *

            All the people from the reality world came ushering into the Great Music Hall. The humans range from the creators of the East and West characters to the members of the West and East animation staff to the other important people of the animation organization and finally to the public, which is the viewers. Anime and cartoon characters both young and old came to see the big feud between the East and the West. When the public heard wind about the feud, the tickets were sold out almost immediately within 24 hours of its sale! Now that's what I call a great sale!

            Everyone chattered excitedly as they tried to find their seats in the Great Music Hall. They were all excited to see their favourite characters go into action. It was a new thing for them to see their characters playing instruments and indulge themselves in serious art for a change and they wouldn't miss it for the world.

            Backstage, everyone was pretty much nervous about the whole duel thing. Some of them were beginning to have second thoughts about the whole issue. 

            _*In the West*_

            "I don't think I wanna go out there, guys," Ron said as he peeked from the closed curtains at the hundreds upon hundreds of people out there taking their seats. "I'm suddenly experiencing a serious case of stage fright!"

            "Me too, me too!" Rufus agreed as he burrowed deeper into Ron's pocket.

            "There's no turning back now, guys!" Kim Possible exclaimed in horror at her boyfriend's sudden change of attitude. "We've already agreed into this and we have gotta go out there and show the East who's boss!"

            "But…are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Daphne asked. "I mean, there has got to be other ways to settle this fight. We don't have to take such drastic measures."

            "What do you mean drastic measures?" Cat (CatDog from 'Nickelodeon') asked, surprised. "Competing in this type of feud is perfectly civilized and non-violent. What's so drastic about it?"

            "Yeah," Dog, his conjoined brother agreed. "It's just an orchestra competition. It's just a simple matter of win or lose. What's wrong with that?"

            "Well…I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't want your spirits to be down and be pressurized by the whole thing but…" Mickey hesitated, scratched his ear and finally said, "Well…if we lose, our ratings go down. And when our ratings go down, it'll be the end of us."

            "WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed, their eyes as big as saucers.

            "What exactly do you mean by 'the end of us'?" Eduardo demanded, his face looking as if he would take the ecto-gun and blow Mickey up into smithereens.

            "You know how our lives and our existence depend on the ratings. If no one likes us anymore and no one is interested to watch our shows anymore, we'll cease to exist. We'll disappear into thin air, disintegrate, and fade away…well…in a crueler way…die…"

            "DIE?!" Johnny Bravo exclaimed as he almost fell onto his knees. "I'm too handsome to die! I haven't got enough chicks yet, man! Oh Mama, why does this have to happen?!"

            "Now you tell us!!" Donald Duck squawked. "Do you mean to tell us that if we don't win this contest, we'll die?!"

            Mickey didn't dare to reply.

            "Even if we raise the white flag now, the humans will think of us as cowards and will hate us for it. We'll die all the same," Sam said as she and her girlfriends Clover and Alex looked at each other uneasily.

            "But if we win, we'll end up killing the East," Bubbles whined. "We'll be murderers!"

            "I don't usually say this but…" Mickey hesitated again before saying, "we'll have to risk it. It is a necessary evil. We cannot just die."

            The silence that hung over them later was _way_ unbearably thick.

                                       **********************************

            _*In the East*_

            "The day for us to beat those worthless West baka-s have arrived!!" Goku exclaimed with much excitement, resulting to a loud thwack by Sanzo's holy fan.

            "Don't be so enthusiastic, you bakasaru! Your confidence is just gonna wear you down! I don't want to see you falling asleep in the middle of the competition!"

            "Sanzo, just let him be," Gojyo said as he gulped down his last can of beer. "He practically never runs out of batteries."

            "Is everyone all set and ready to play for our lives?" Hakkai asked cheerfully as usual.

            "HAIT!!!" Everyone exclaimed with their instruments held up high in the air.

            "Are you sure we should do this?" Ayashi suddenly asked. "I'm beginning to have second thoughts."

            Everyone glared at her like she just announced something horrible and unforgivable. Toru stood protectively in front of her in case they want to pounce on her and turned to her, asking, "Why do you have to say that? We've already gotten this far. Why the hesitation all of a sudden?"

            "I just…don't think that this is necessary. It's too cruel…"

            "Well, it's too cruel to let the West win and get us killed in the process!" Usopp exclaimed.

            "She's right," the sudden agreement from Luffy immediately turned heads towards him.

            "Why do you say that?" Sanji asked with Nami in his arms.

            "If we do this duel and we win, we'll kill the West in the process because they will lose their ratings and cease to exist."

            "Yeah, so?" Tasuki folded his arms, unconcerned.

            "Then what's the difference between us and the West? I bet they want to do the same thing and get us killed. But if we do this, what difference does this make us compared to them?"

            Everyone was at lost of words.

                                                                        *

            "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!" Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din, who were the MCs, stepped out to the stage and were fighting for the mike. As they fought for it, they finished each other's sentences, sending the humans into peels of laughter.

            MG: Thank you one and all…

            PCD: To come to this glorious hall to…

            MG: Witness this glorious performance!

            PCD: Do enjoy the orchestra performed by…

            MG: Our most talented characters from both…

            PCD: The East and the West!

            MG: We'll let you be the judge to see…

            PCD: Who's the best among the two!

            MG: So without further ado…

            PCD: Let us give a warm welcome…

            MG: To the East anime and the West cartoons!

            As soon as they finished, the humans clapped and cheered as the curtains unfold. The West was sitting at the right side of the stage while the East sat at the left. They were amazed to see which of their favourite characters was handling which piece of instrument. Half of the Disney characters were handling the wind instruments like the trombones, trumpets, flutes, saxophones, clarinets and tubas, while the other half were handling the cellos, violins, guitars, banjos, electric guitars and a huge harp together with some of the Cartoon Network crew. Half of the Nickelodeon was in charge of the drums and the other half were in a mixture with the Cartoon Network handling miscellaneous instruments like the piano, xylophone and chimes. The East, on the other hand, were about much of a mixture of everyone handling instruments like the qin, the wind chimes, flutes, the cello, the Chinese xylophones and the drums. They were all glaring at their opponents as if they were about to eat them alive.

            Soon, the orchestra began. The West started first with some theme songs from their show like 'Scooby Doo', 'Dexter's Laboratory', 'Totally Spies', 'Kim Possible' and 'CatDog'. The East fought back by a few theme songs from _their_ show like 'Samurai X', 'Cooking Master Boy', 'Slam Dunk', 'Ranma ½' and 'Ayashi No Ceres'. Then the West rebutted back with songs from 'The Weekenders', 'The Powerpuff Girls', 'The Flintstones' and 'Tom & Jerry Kids Show'. The East again threw them back with songs from 'Strange Dawn', 'One Piece', 'Vandread' and 'Here & There, Now & Then'. The West shot back again with their theme songs from their animation movies like 'Beauty & the Beast', 'Aladdin', 'Pocahontas', 'The Lion King' and 'The Little Mermaid'. The East wouldn't give up and had their songs from their OVA like 'You're Under Arrest', 'Fushigi Yuugi', 'Jigoku Sensei Nube' and 'Oh! My Goddess'.

            The fight was hectic. Everyone watched in awe and excitement as the West and the East fought to defeat each other with their songs. They were going back and forth with each other, from 'Archie's Weird Mysteries' to 'Dragon Ball' to 'Road to El Dorado' to 'Doraemon' to 'Hercules' to 'Gensomaden Saiyuki' to 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' to 'Shaman King' to 'Mulan' to 'Rave'…the list goes on. They both were playing for their lives, playing for their existence and playing for their place in the animation world. Neither of them wanted to die and become forgotten by their humans they have given their service to for so long. None of them want to disappear and cease to exist for the rest of their lives. None of them want to have the feeling of fading away into nothingness and become lost in the world of emptiness where there is no life and no death and no one to care for you. None of them wanted to be parted from this world and stop serving their beloved humans. And certainly none of them want to be out of the children's—those lovely children—eyes forever, never to be remembered and never there to brighten their days.

            But then, none of them wanted to kill their opponents…

            They suddenly stopped, much to the amazement of the humans watching. The silence was so thick, but no one attempted to make a sound lest missing out what would happen next. Mat Gempak and Pak Cik Din stared in astonishment at their sudden reaction. Misbun smiled mysteriously, as if expecting this to happen. The West and the East stared at each other in complete silence. It had dawned to them that none of them wanted their opponent to be killed. All they wanted was to have a fair duel to see who wins or lose. None of them expected that this duel will cost them their lives. None of them expected that whoever wins, either side will die. They didn't want to kill. They didn't want this tragedy to happen at all.

            Suddenly Miaka, who was playing the qin, struck a note. Tamahome stared at her before playing a note on his flute. Chichiri followed suite by playing the wind chimes. Then it was Sakuragi playing the Chinese trumpet, followed by Rukawa playing his flute. Slowly the West also joined in, from Ron playing his trombone, Kim with her flute, Johnny Bravo with his electric guitar, Velma with her violin and Goofy with his banjo. One by one, the crew from the East and West played their instrument, slowly and spontaneously making a song that no one had ever heard before. The song was neither from the East's theme songs nor the West's. it was a whole new song which just came from a combination of them. Even Hakkai and Mickey, after staring at each other, finally raised their conducting sticks and began to conduct the song that was out of the ordinary.

            Everyone was really moved by the song, including the children who came to listen and also our Asian agents. They played of their lives in their field of entertainment. They played of how they felt when they were first created. They played of how they felt when they were given life by the humans who watched and loved them. They played of their happiness and sadness, of the wonders they could do to brighten up and excite their fellow viewers through their stories and adventures. They played of romances that bloomed within them as their show carried on to entertain their viewers and played of gratitude that if it weren't for the support of the viewers, they wouldn't have discovered love between themselves and wouldn't have lived till today. They played of the good times and the bad times and most importantly, they played of their love and thanks to those innocent kids who never tire and never failed on them.

            When they ended, there was another silence. The East and the West suddenly felt exhilaration and a satisfaction that their score was finally over. They realized that ratings were not something they can just simply hold as a contest, not when it concerned their lives. They realized that they were pretty equal after all. They finally smiled at each other and gave their compliments to each other through eye-contact.

            Almost abruptly, everyone present in the hall stood up and cheered, almost clapping their hands raw. They hollered and shouted with excitement and even whistled. Happiness and tears were all over their faces as they yelled their congrats and compliments out loud.

            "They are just so cool!"

            "Yeah! Sugoi!"

            "They were so great, so cool! I…I can't decide! They both are so good at this!! I can't express how cool they are!!"

            "The East and the West rocks, dude!"

            "I'm amazed! They actually did it without our help! We didn't have to draw them any special talents to play!"

            "I'm so glad this is over!" Mat Gempak shouted in the midst of all this commotion. "I didn't think they'll pull through anyway!"

           "You knew it all along, didn't you, Misbun?!" Pak Cik Din asked. "You knew all along that this was going to happen, didn't you?!"  

            Misbun only smiled as he went up stage and took the mike. He waited until the commotion died a little before asking, "Well, friends. Did you enjoy the show?"

            "YES!!!" Everyone exclaimed, forcing those on stage to wince and cover their ears.

            "So, what do you think? Who is the best among the two?"

            Everyone quieted down and muttered among themselves. It was written on their faces that none of them was able to decide. Finally one of the staff from Disney said, "I don't know, Misbun. We really can't decide. They were all really good."

            "Yeah," someone from the anime company agreed. "They started out to be fighting among themselves but to think that at the end of the show, they had a combined song. We…we really can't decide." 

            Everyone nodded and muttered their agreement. They really couldn't figure out whether the East was better or the West. Misbun smiled and said, "Then we'll have to consider this a tie, shall we?"

            "YEAH!!!" everyone replied before cheering again.

            "Well, guys," Misbun said as he turned to the cartoons and the animes. "Are you satisfied now?"

            They all nodded sheepishly. Goku suddenly laughed out loud and pounced on Sanzo, demanding a congratulation kiss. Sanzo wanted to shoot him with gun at first, but finally turned his back on everyone and kissed Goku. Soon, all the couples of both East and West grabbed each other and kissed. Johnny Bravo was the most enthusiastic and show-off of all. He held Velma _way_ near to the ground (like in those dances) and kissed her, sending her swooning. Dexter looked at him in distaste but was consoled by his sister Dee Dee and Mandark.

            "Chill out, Dexter," Dee Dee said. "There are still other girls in the world right for you."

            "Yes, Dexter. I can introduce to you a lovely female specimen later," Mandark agreed.

            The whole feud ended gracefully.

                                                                        *

            "Our ratings are better!"

            "_Our_ ratings are better!"

            "Here we go again."

            The characters of the East and West were bickering again about their ratings in the conference room. Some people just never learn. Mat Gempak, Misbun Sidek and Pak Cik Din groaned in exasperation.

            "What is it this time?" Mat Gempak asked. "Wasn't the orchestra duel a lesson enough for you?"

            "No! Come to think of it, a tie isn't so good after all!" Timon replied.

            "We want another duel!" Giant exclaimed. "Something that wouldn't affect our lives and force us to give in to each other and will not have another tie!"

            "Any ideas? We have to stop them fighting like this!" Pak Cik Din asked. For once, Misbun shook his head and shrugged, obviously no ideas at the moment.

            "OK, guys!" Mat Gempak sounded really tired of all this nonsense. "You want a fight? I'll give you another fight! One that won't concern your lives, if that's what you want!"

            Everyone looked at him eagerly.

            "Cooking."

A/N: HAHAHAHAHA~~!!!! XD Some people just never learn from their mistakes now, do they? That's all, folks! Reviews plz!


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